A few weeks ago I introduced Lyra to basic jumping skills. When she understood that finding a jump and taking it created a positive reaction from me, I introduced a minor hand signal to indicate which jump I wanted. I also began facing her to complete this concept, which sets us up for directed jumping. Now I want to work on teaching Lyra when NOT to jump; I do not want her to jump on the “go out”, and I do not want her to jump before I ask for a jump.
To begin, I “miniaturize” the directed jumping exercise. The jumps are approximately six feet apart, and her platform is placed another eight feet or so past the jumps. The actual angles from the go out spot to the jumps are a little easier than what she will see in the ring, but the jumps are obviously much closer together. Over the next week or two I will change the focus of the exercise to the directed jumping portion of the exercise; at that time I will make the angle to the jumps very steep but the go out portion will be simplified. Train one concept at a time.
Since Lyra has been doing the platform much longer than the jumps, the platform has a very great draw. As a result, when I miniaturize the directed jumping exercise, she is very likely to go past the jumps to her platform, rather than taking the jump on the way out. If she does take a jump, I simply circle around and send her back to her platform from a closer distance. The lesson here is to go past a jump – even if it very close – when you are sent on a go out. Remember, she should only take a jump if I signal a jump.
After she is going out through the center, I alternate between rewarding the go out portion, or having her take a jump. This begins the picture of directed jumping. Lyra is learning a few things here. First, don’t anticipate. If she leaves her platform early, I circle her around and send her right back out. Second, watch me carefully, since Lyra cannot know which jump I will ask for, if any (I might simply return to her on the platform or call her off altogether). Finally, she is learning that it is correct to jump when a jump is indicated, but not to jump without a specific cue. This type of training early on helps a dog with stimulus control, and prevents dogs that turn into offering machines rather than responsive partners.
In this video, you can see the “I’m just throwing behaviors rather than thinking” problem for the first 30 seconds or so. She’s not listening to me at all; she’s guessing, so I do not reward it. Starting at the 28 sec mark, you can see she realizes she needs to listen and think. The session goes much better after this point. At the 1:18 sec mark, she makes a clear choice to hold herself back and to listen. I reward her decision.
When Lrya can comfortably pass by the jumps when she is traveling twenty feet or more, I know she has a good understanding of what I am asking for.
At the three minute mark, I introduced a very basic version of the retrieve over high jump. The purpose of this is simply to further proof her understanding of when to jump and when to pass the jump. This is NOT how I teach the retrieve over high jump, but I cannot introduce that until Lyra has a proper active stay, which she does not have at this time. To get around this, I simply toss her dumbbell over the jump and then talk her through the entire exercise. After taking the dumbbell over the jump, I return to the directed jumping set up. As you can see, that makes her more likely to fail the directed jumping exercise – she takes a jump on the way out – good! It’s very hard to teach a dog what you want if they never make mistakes. This is the stage where I want her to make her mistakes; when I have control over the entire exercise, and the reward schedule is extremely high.
I’ve tried to find the right punctuation for that first sentence, but nothing fit, so I left it off altogether. I couldn’t use a period because there is no emotion in a period. I considered an exclamation point, but an exclamation point cannot cover what Cisu and I experienced over the years.
An exclamation point would not tell you the beginning, where our string of successes made me feel assured of an easy road, nor about the years in the middle; the beginning of a downward slide that ended with consistent failure in every show and every class. You would not know how I found myself giving up – filling out entry forms and no longer writing in her name. An exclamation point would not tell how I felt when I drove to shows; Cisu’s hopeful face watching from the window, or worse, how I felt when she stopped watching at all.
An exclamation point would give you no clue about the hours I spent trying to do better, so frustrated that she couldn’t just tell me – in a way that I could understand – what I needed to do to make us a team again. An exclamation point could not express the inner conflict I battled every time I thought about her; and how that inner conflict finally grew too great to ignore, driving us to a new plan that allowed us to return to serious training and competition.
An exclamation point could not explain how after such a emotional journey, the OTCH wasn’t really very important. The title measured our success, but the success had already been measured in the process; the validation of what was possible. We did it because we could, and that’s what I had needed to know. Could we do it? Yes, we could.
Maybe the English language needs a new punctuation mark; one which covers the emotional roller coaster experienced in a whole story; from the beginning (the future looks bright!), to the middle (something bad has happened!) and finally the end (we did it!).
That story left off with Cisu’s UDX title and about 25 OTCH points. When I returned Cisu to training and competition, I needed to learn how to handle her – one exercise at a time, so that we could qualify. I had no real expectation of finishing the OTCH. The next few months were all over the map; in some trials we were highly connected and worked well, and in others we struggled. Over time, it became clearer to me that I could not leave Cisu “alone” for even a second – each moment needed to be covered – touching her, talking to her, or actively working her. Rather than trying to calm her down, I needed to support her energy through interaction. I needed to give 100% engagement, and if I failed to provide this connection, then we would fail. Cisu did not break contact with me, but she could not recover if I broke contact with her.
And she blossomed, leading to a solid streak of beautiful performances, consistently high scores, and a rapid accumulation of OTCH points and awards. Competing with Cisu became a chance to show just how beautiful competition obedience could be, regardless of the day’s outcome.
While that is the end of the story for Cisu and I as a competition team, it is far from the end. The experience of failing – giving up and coming back – validated my belief that the answer to training problems is understanding the dog in front of you – what matters to her. Cisu taught me that all the positive methods in the world won’t work if the dog isn’t buying into the program. I must actively search for the games, motivators, and relationship builders – as many as possible – that will support love of work and competition. There is clearly much to learn when the dog isn’t going along with the program.
If you have been following Lyra’s progress over the past several months, then you have seen what Cisu has given to me. Lyra is the end product of Cisu’s struggles – a way to approach training with respect for the dog and an overriding responsibility to keep training and competition enjoyable for both members of the team, regardless of where the scores fall in formal competitions.
Cisu, I am so grateful to you; what a patient and forgiving teacher you turned out to be.
Lyra is becoming relatively fluent on her current skills, so it’s time to add something new to her repertoire. This week I introduced some basic jumping skills.
There are a thousand ways you can start this. My goals for the next couple of weeks are threefold. First, I want Lrya to understand that going through jump uprights is a really good idea, and can create a big reaction from me. Second, I want her to fight to locate and take a jump. Finally, I need to introduce some signals and rules, so she can also learn that jumping only works when I want it. it’s just as important for Lyra to learn when NOT to jump as it is to jump. This blog entry and video will address the first two goals
To start, I created a favorable situation to make it likely that Lyra would go through the uprights – I walked over the jump myself and “hovered” in the area around the jump. Each time she followed me over the jump or chose to jump while I walked nearby, we had a celebration. Note that I often allow her to carry the toy while she is jumping. I do this for a few reasons, but the primary one is to convince her that ownership of the toy is not the goal – interaction with me is what really matters. She clearly gets it.
When I was pretty sure she had a clue about what earned a celebration, I gently “threw” her away from the jump by her toy. If she came back to the jump and went over, I made a fuss over her. If she went around, nothing really happened. In my opinion, it is absolutely fine to praise and give energy to a dog who is failing – as long as they are trying. I find that it keeps them in the game a lot longer than if I go silent when they fail. Not only is silence potentially punishing for most young dogs, it’s also a bad habit to develop, since eventually silence must mean that you are correct (think: competition). If you are right we have a party. If you are wrong I will praise but withhold the package deal.
By her next lesson, I am no longer going over the jumps myself, and I add in a minor hand signal to indicate when and where I want her to jump. I also toned down the party; once she understands what I want then it’s no longer such a big deal if she does it. Parties are a function of effort – she needs to give more to get the same reaction. Keep the rate of challenge high but attainable.
In her fourth lesson, I added a second jump with a bar. She got it right away so this was not difficult. Then I practiced sending her back and forth between the two jumps. I ignore mistakes and set her up to try again.
Note that the angles of approach to my jumps are very sharp. I do this to force Lyra to break eye contact in order to jump. I want my dogs to look at the jump rather than me when they appraoch – it’s both safer and increases the chances that they will actively look for a jump if they don’t see it immediately.
Now that Lyra has these introductory jump skills as well as a basic go out, I can introduce directed jumping. I will begin that in her next lesson by miniaturizing the directed jumping exercise and teaching her right away that sometimes we jump and sometimes we don’t! I think most people wait too long to introduce the idea of NOT jumping, and this causes a lot of grief in directed jumping where the dog only jumps in one direction. The way I communicate this will be recorded for a future blog entry.
This video shows lessons two and four of jumping; over four days.
Yesterday’s blog was the sad tale of my failed training attempt. In short, Lyra stood on her back legs and screamed out her frustration – she wanted to go visit a dog and I was preventing that from happening. Her behavior would have put a Toller to shame.
A few people have asked how to handle a situation like that, so I’ll take a few minutes to review what options I had at my disposal. If you haven’t’ read the post, it’s at: http://denisefenzi.com/2012/03/15/lyra-7-months/
I can think of six ways that I could have responded to Lyra’s behavior: a physical or verbal correction, allowing her to greet the dog, a time out, redirection to a toy, or waiting her out. Let’s look at each one.
I could have given Lrya a physical correction by popping her collar. In Lyra’s case this would have worked for a few reasons. First, she’s never been popped on a collar so she would have noticed it in a big way – dogs that get corrected frequently become desensitized but Lyra has not been physically corrected. Second, Lrya does care what I think about her behavior – this is partly because of her genetics but also a result of the type of relationship we have; she values me. Finally, Lyra’s behavior is rooted in frustration that is NOT linked to aggression. She’s a puppy who wants what she wants – much like a toddler. A physical correction would have broken through and would have given her something else to care about – my anger. If frustration were closely linked to aggression in Lyra, then a physical correction would not have worked. Frustration with aggression shows as classic leash reactivity, and feeding aggression with energy or pain will make it worse. I’ve been there; trust me.
I opted against a physical correction because my goal is not to get Lyra off her back legs with her mouth closed; my goal is to engage her brain so that she can work with all that she has to give. Her body is a symptom of what’s happening between her ears, it is NOT the root problem. A physical correction would have ended the symptom but…then what? Getting her body oriented towards me does not cause the brain to follow. I’m not interested in having her eyes, I want the brain.
Lyra is a simple dog to read; when she is engaged both ears are completely up on her head, her tail is up, and her eyes are locked in. She carries a lot of tension in her body with complete engagement of both her front and rear; you cannot mistake Lyra at her best for anything but committed. But someone who doesn’t know Lyra could see 50% Lyra and think it’s pretty good. Head up, eyes on mine, but maybe only one ear or no ears at all. That’s not the partner I want, and I will not work with Lyra until I have the whole dog. It would “suffice” if all I wanted was to get through Novice or Open with mostly good skills but that’s not my goal; I want a dog who watches me – 50 feet away – and locks in with everything she has – eyes, ears and most important….brain. Staring at me with no response is useless. Dogs that are corrected for not watching their handlers are a set up for dogs that stare at their owners and do not respond to commands – they watch but aren’t really engaged. I’ve been there too. So, physical corrections are out. Not to mention; I think physical corrections are yucky.
My next option was a verbal correction. The basic problem is the same as the physical correction listed above (stops her behavior but does not return the brain), but it does have the added advantage of being useful when she’s off leash and at a distance. I would have opted for this one if she had been off leash and on her way to engage in what could have been a bad or dangerous situation – then I would have gotten out of that situation. If a verbal correction had stopped her then it is possible that she would have been receptive to training, depending on how much she cared about my displeasure. In Lyra’s case, I believe a verbal correction may have stopped her behavior but would not have returned her brain. Again, useless for my goal – a dog with 100% engagement.
I could have allowed Lyra to greet the dog and possibly she would have been willing to return to work once her curiousity was satisfied. In this case that strategy would not have worked because Lyra isn’t curious, she’s RIVETED. She does not want to simply meet, she wants to play with the other dog. If Lyra had been allowed to enter Disneyland, there would have been no getting her back to the Neighborhood Park. Lyra will never be allowed to visit Disneyland beause I cannot compete, so why expose her to what she cannot have? That’s setting up for a fight I don’t wish to have. I have this conversation with my students all too often – usually when it’s after the fact and impossible to go back. Don’t introduce Disneyland unless you have Disneyland on Steroids to offer.
Let’s say that Lyra had true leash reactivity with aggression; in a case like that greeting the dog often gets them over the basic anxiety which is behind a lot of aggression – she would have seen that the dog is no threat, and if she were not a very doggy dog, she may well have been happy to return to me and work. But that is not Lyra’s situation;she is not aggressive reactive and she IS doggy, so there was no possible benefit to a meet and greet. Even for a dog with classic aggressive leash reactivity where a visit with the other dog could neutralize their reaction, I would not recommend a greeting because you haven’t solved the problem – you have simply avoided the issue. I like to address issues so the root cause is addressed, if at all possible. For an example of that with fear, see my blog post on Lyra and fear of a camera person at: http://denisefenzi.com/2011/12/13/lyra-working-through-fear/ The discussion is the same; if you change the situation you are no longer training the same issue.
Lyra could have been placed on a time out, and indeed I did this. I returned her to a crate in the car for a few minutes, with the hope that when we returned she would have chosen work over….nothing. Unfortunately, her drive to work is not strong enough at this age to overcome her doggy interests, so it was not effective this time. I’d put money on the fact that it will work quite well in another month or two, especially if I get her out in public more so she’s not quite as excited and distracted when we are out. A time out ould also have worked if I had a way to make the other dog less interesting, i.e, a greater distance, dog lying down, etc. I also could have tried doing multiple time outs, but I was in a time crunch so I didn’t have the luxury of spending an hour there working on it. Knowing Lyra, a greater period of time would have made it much more likely that she could have responded to me – she does tend to acclimate after a period of initial excitement.
I could have tried redirecting Lyra to food or a toy. I did try this but she wasn’t going for it; she already knew what she wanted and it had nothing to do with me – indeed I was the root of her problem since I had the leash.
I could have waited her out. In lyra’s case, this probably would have worked. I know this beause I’ve used this with her in the past and it does work. I simply didn’t have time, and I wasn’t prepared for for the issues which arose.
So, I went home, and I think that was the best choice I had under the circumstances.
Incidentally, I returned to the park today but there were no dogs. Regardless, Lyra took a few minutes to acclimate (which I give her with a “go be a dog” command). When she had enough of that, she put herself in heel position with her ears up, so I knew she was ready. All we did today was play with toys – worked on her speed of return to me, her outs and tiny bits of heeling for a reward. She was pretty darned good for about five minutes and then she put her toy down to wander and sniff. I collected Lyra’s ball and collected Lyra. I returned her to the car and brought out another dog – one who was very willing to work, and when we were done we returned home. I was totally calm and intrigued….reminded that her attention span is still that of a normal seven month old and not a second more.
What I learned today is that I don’t’ even need a specific doggy distraction to suck her in – sometimes five minutes away from home is the best she can do for me. Fine. That’s four and a half more minutes than I was getting a few months ago.
Have you ever had a training day where absolutely everything went right? Where you wished every person who’d ever said an unkind thing about you could be there to watch? Where you ended the work completely bubbling over inside with the excitement that comes with an amazing training session?
Today wasn’t that day.
Everything went wrong, all because a perfectly well behaved Labrador was playing ball on the very far end of the park – a speck in the distance. Lyra stood on her hind legs and screamed. I tried waiting her out. I tried engaging her with a toy. I tried crating her and returning a few minutes later. And when I realized I was getting angry, I stopped, and we went home.
On the drive back to the house, I acknowledged to myself that I hadn’t worked Lyra in a public space for a couple of weeks. I know that Lyra is highly environmental – training at home isn’t enough. Most important, I know that she needs to get out a few times a week, and that at seven months of age, my expectations for “work” need to be scaled way back when we are in public.
Still, I was dissapointed. More in myself than in her, though in the minutes that she stood there and screamed I had some trouble remembering who needed to take responsibility.
We’re back home and she’s taking a nap under the desk. Now I’m going to pick my son up from school. Tomorrow we’ll try again, with more fair expectations. I won’t bring any working equipment at all; just a few toys and Lyra. Hopefully we’ll have one of those days where everything goes right; where you wish every person who’d ever said an unkind thing about you could be there to watch, and where you end the work bursting inside with the excitement and happiness that comes with an amazing training session.
Raika is contemplating a return to the sport of Schutzhund (now IPO). We never earned her schutzhund three title; mostly because I got distracted with AKC obedience and that became my focus. When I returned a couple of years ago, I found that I didn’t have enough time to get in all three phases of work on a regular basis (tracking, obedience and protection). So…it never happened.
Raika is almost eight years old, which means we’re at the point of now or never. She’s incredibly fit and agile – as long as that continues she can comfortably work in a rigorous sport. We’ve been back for about three weeks and she’s happier than I’ve ever seen her, so if she remains injury free I don’t see any reason why she cannot complete the title.
In obedience, our biggest challenge is verbal discrimination. Raika has to go from heeling to a stationary position immediately on command. The exercises are a sit (out of a walk), down (out of a run) and stand (out of a run). This is a verbal exercise so no hand signal is allowed. To receive a high score, Raika’s response time must be immediate; she should be locked up in the position pretty much at the same time as the command leaves my mouth.
This is a challenge for Raika. She runs about 80 – 90% accuracy on her verbal discrimination exercises when she is in drive. That means there is a 50% chance of failing one of the three exercises – not acceptable odds. Improving those figures is the focus on my obedience training with her. As a general rule she has the hardest time with the sit out of motion, though on this day she struggled more with the stand position. When she misses more than one time I help her to be correct. How I help the dog depends on how they were trained. In Raika’s case, I usually add a hand signal (for the sit or down) or I reach out and touch her chest or neck for the stand.
The step I find most helpful for increasing accuracy in positions is repetition. Unfortunately, success through repetition tends to come at the cost of drive – most dogs don’t enjoy drills. My job is to find ways to get in the repetition while keeping her engaged in the game. Here are the four ways I’m practicing (the first three are shown on the video).
Practice high hand touches followed by commands. The commands may include “heel, sit, down, or stand”. My “stand” command is “wait”. The reason for the “Heel” command is to prevent Raika from losing her enthusiastic heeling – if you only do position changes the dog will stop heeling properly while waiting to hear your request, so keep that in the mix. This is my favorite method since it most closely resembles what I will need in competition (hitting the correct position while moving).
Practice the verbal commands while backing the dog up from the front of you. This method completely removes the out of motions from heeling and allows you to focus on the position only. With this method, do your best to give the reward behind the dog or at the place where you gave the command. If the dog is allowed to come back to you for the reward you are encouraging movement after the position; a no-no. Practicing out of backing up is my favorite method if I’m focusing on the drop on recall for AKC, since it closely approximates the actual picture.
My third method is to practice the actual exercise. This is the one I do the least, and is mostly to test the behaviors to make sure they have transferred.
My final method is to practice the verbal commands while throwing food (not shown on video). Toss a piece of food and as soon as the dog is done eating it, give a position command. Then toss the food behind the dog to do another one. This is also a great way to get distance from the dog to practice exercises that require distance control, such as the send out for schutzhund (to a down), the go out for AKC (to a sit), the drop on recall and the signal exercise.
Once she’s at a rate of accuracy that I’m comfortable with (I need to be surprised when she is incorrect) then I will reduce the amount of time I spend on this exercise, and I will eliminate the high reward schedule.
Here’s a three minute video of Raika practicing most of the above techniques – this is our third session in a row focusing on these skills. In that time her speed/accuracy combination has improved quite a bit. Note that I alternate between methods and even throw in a couple of retrieves. I do this because dogs are much happier “drilling” if you mix it up. Variety also seems to help them clear their head so that they can maintain a high accuracy rate. I am generous with the rewards; when I drill I try to make it worth the dog’s while.
Some of you might also notice that my hand is at my side. This is the required hand position for IPO, not at my waist.
In addition to close in attention, I’d like to have an explosive send away as well. This is useful for retrieves, go outs/send out, articles and any work that requires the dog to look out ahead.
There are two components to a good send away from the handler. The first is drive….the dog needs to understand that getting somewhere is what causes the reward to happen. Lyra and I spend a lot of time playing games that involve toys in an effort to build this drive. There should be a very clear correlation between speed to her destination and her drive for toys – both will increase together. Lyra knows that arriving at the destination; the dumbbell, blinds, platform, etc, causes me to play with her, so that connection is established. Now it’s a matter of building her desire for the things I control – toys, food or play.
The second component to a good send away is a clear destination. I want the dog to LOOK where they are being sent before I actually send them. When I throw the dumbbell I want the dog to mark the fall so they know exactly where they are going. When I do a go out for directed jumping I want the dog to have clearly marked the destination point. Dogs that do not mark the destination often look confused when they are sent – this affects confidence, and unsure dogs rarely run straight or fast.
To teach a mark command, the dog must be able to look away from their handler – straight ahead – on command.
Lyra has been working on this for months in various forms. To start, I taught her “destinations”. Those can include any of the following: a toy, dumbbell, platform, stanchion, garbage can (for running around), IPO blind, or a piece of tape on a wall or other object. Each of these possibilities was taught one at a time, until the sight of the destination causes a known behavior. For example, the sight of a platform makes her want to hop up. The sight of a dumbbell makes her want to retrieve, etc. Once I have that to as many destinations as I wish, I add a scruff grab. By holding her back very close to a single destination and then letting her go, she begins to learn that holding her ruff means to look ahead.
Next I added more than one possible destination, but far apart from each other. For example, I might have a stanchion with tape on one side of my training field, and a garbage can 180 degrees away on the other side of the field. I start close to each one and release her forward. I line my body up carefully – I want her to be at my side looking ahead. Eventually, being in heel position and looking straight ahead should lead her to the correct destination.
We are currently at the point where I can send her to various destinations from up to 30 feet away. I try not to have two possible destinations closer than about 60 degrees apart – I want her to be right.
She is starting to get it. When I hold her ruff, she looks away from me, but she is not at the point of “locking” on to the object straight ahead. That will be our next goal for this exercise.
My guess is that the locking on will happen at about the same time her drive for the toys comes up, since locking on to a remote object is an issue of both training and motivation. Training I will provide. Motivation will come with time.
Here’s a video of Lyra working with multiple mark destinations:
Emotions are part of dog training. We cannot escape them, nor should we try. Indeed, when it comes to the “positive” emotions, I’m a big fan of making sure the dog knows how I am feeling. I addressed that a month ago in my post “The Happy Emotions – A Party for Two”. Sharing your happy emotions with your dog allows you to reduce the use of food and toys in training, making for a better transition from the training grounds to the ring.
Unfortunately, not all emotions are positive. We also have other emotions…the ones we try hard not to show, but feel anyway. The majority of the time training should be highly enjoyable; I would hope that your typical emotion ranges somewhere between neutral and positive during training sessions. But sometimes you’ll find other emotions coming up.
As a professional trainer, it is easier for me to keep my emotions in check because of the luxury of experience; I know what matters, and what is probably inconsequential in the long run. In time, you will learn this too, but until then, you need to make sure that your head and heart talk to each other. This will allow your rational mind to win when your irrational or negative emotions attempt a hostile takeover. Some of the most common negative emotions in training are frustration, anger, embarrassment, and anxiety.
When you find yourself feeling frustrated, put the dog away; unchecked frustration tends to turn to anger. Mentally review the approach you are taking with the exercise and the expectations you have set. Rather than asking yourself if the dog is progressing slowly, ask yourself if it matters. Sometimes it is inconsequential; you simply expected to be further along at a given point. Other times it does matter, because it suggests that the method is not the right one for the dog. If you decide that a change in method is the answer, make those changes, and remember that since you’re starting over, you need to give the new plan a reasonable amount of time to succeed.
If you decide that you’re using the right method but the dog is a little slow getting it, relax – accept your dog as an individual – and give both of you more time. To let go of the frustration, remind yourself that you’re not in a training race, so sit back and enjoy the process. If you are frustrated because your dog is not living up to expectations, take a look at my “talent and puppies” article. Convince yourself that your puppy or dog has not blossomed yet. If you are past that stage, work to accept that your dog is doing the best that she can, under the circumstances of you as a trainer and her as a unique temperament. Let it go, or avoid training until you can find a way to make it better.
If you feel angry, STOP TRAINING. Having seen a lot of angry training, I can say that, without fail, good training decisions are never made under the influence of anger, and indeed can lead to some spectacularly bad ones. Training decisions made in anger can set you back months. Put your dog away – call a friend or a training partner and work through your frustration verbally, not with your dog. Lock yourself in the house if you must, but absolutely do not train until you are calm and rational again.
Embarrassment is complicated, because it’s usually the result of an unexpected situation and therefore can’t be planned for. One effective strategy for dealing with embarrassment is simply to admit it….if your dog has a disastrous run, come out of the ring and admit it. “That was so embarrassing. She looked terrible!” When you admit you’re embarrassed, people have a way of being sympathetic. Sympathetic people are a lot more supportive than smug people, so you might as well get people on your side. It doesn’t matter what training method you use, or what method those outside the ring use. Keep the discussion focused on the issue at hand – you and your dog had a bad day at the show. That IS the issue. If you keep that focus, you’d be surprised at how quickly everyone will be swapping their “most embarrassed moments” stories. Cheer up – you’re not the first dog trainer to feel like a fool.
If your embarrassing episode also had a training component (your dog gets into a fight with another dog in the middle of a class, or runs away and takes twenty minutes to be caught), it can take embarrassment to a new level. It’s particularly bad if you have some sort of authority in that class, such as being an instructor. The desire to show people that you are “doing something” causes bad decisions – decisions not designed to further our dog’s training, but to satisfy our need to show others that we are taking control of the situation….even when “non-action” might be the best strategy.
If something embarrassing happens and you are in a position of authority, make the best decision for your dog at that moment. Use the experience as a learning opportunity for your students at a later time. The next week, as class begins, take five minutes to review what happened, what your choices were, which one you selected, and why. If you are a participant in the class, return the next week and make amends to the best of your ability. Talk to the person who was involved, apologize if appropriate, and explain your actions. If you master your embarrassment, you can take a negative experience and turned it into an educational one. It may be hard to feel it at the time, but people have a great deal of respect for trainers who put their dog’s welfare about their ego.
If you are feeling anxious, identify exactly what is causing you concern. Usually this part is easy. Maybe your dog breaks on the stays, leaves the ring, or shows aggression towards other people or dogs. Learn all you can about your problem area. Do research. If your dog’s problem affects only you and your dog, then you have some freedom; develop a strategy to help your dog feel more comfortable so that she can perform at her best.
If your problem area affects other people or other dogs, you need to do some serious soul searching. The single hardest question I am ever asked is, “do you think my dog is ready to trial?” when it has exhibited aggression towards other people or dogs. My answer is always the same, “if any part of you has a concern, then you are not ready.” You know when your dog is safe; you will feel it in the way you interact with them. If you are asking the question, you are not ready.
As a rule, you’re trialing too early if you feel anxious about what your dog “might” do. You should KNOW what your dog is likely to do. It’s ok if you’re managing behaviors for the life of the dog. It’s ok if your dog occasionally barks or misbehaves to get space. It’s not ok if you’re afraid that your dog might leave you and seriously frighten or hurt another dog or person. When you know your dog is safe, you’ll be past asking the question. If you get to the point where you feel your dog is not safe, and will never be safe, it’s normal to be sad or even a little angry. Recognize that you made a courageous decision – you will be a better trainer when you work with your next dog, and you will be well respected for your decision not to endanger others.
You can’t control how you feel, but you can control your actions. The worst dog training decisions I’ve ever seen were made by handlers under the influence of negative emotions, in particular embarrassment and anger. As I look back over my dog training career, I’ve experienced all of the above emotions. I’ve made decisions that I’m proud of and others that still embarrass me to this day. I don’t think it is reasonable to avoid all negative emotions when working with animals, but I do think that advance preparation for how we’ll respond when we experience them can allow us to make a better percentage of good decisions – decisions that we will be proud of with hindsight. If you’re paying attention, you can catch changes in your feelings before your emotions are controlling you.
A week ago I posted a video of Lyra working on heeling with significant distractions on the field. I allow her to find the distractions and to discover for herself that working with me is endlessly more fun than self rewarding. She worked, wandered, sniffed, and worked some more.
Someone commented to me that it takes “patience” to train that way.
I’ve been thinking about that comment, because I don’t consider myself a particularly patient person. However, I am willing to make short term sacrifices if I believe it will fill a long term interest. That is my perspective on distraction training with Lyra.
Today I videotaped Lyra working her articles – it’s only about 20 seconds long. There are a few things you need to know to understand this video. First, this is only the second or third time that Lyra has worked articles outside of her training room. Second, this is the first time I’ve worked her articles with balls and toys in the pile. Finally, she came out of the house cold and did her articles after a few seconds of heeling (note the toys on the ground, which she is oblivious to). She never touched a toy.
Here’s the lesson that I take from this video. Teach your dog to CHOOSE to ignore distractions rather than convincing them that you can MAKE them ignore distractions. You might have to be patient for a few months, but after that the job is pretty much done.
Dogs that self train to ignore distractions are not stressed; there is nothing to stress about. That allows them to perform work which requires thinking (articles, signals, directed jumping, Schutzhund out of motions) and not simply exercises that are performed by rote (AKC Novice and Open exercises and most of schutzhund). People who compete in AKC and Schutzhund at the higher levels know which exercises are most likely to be failed – the ones that require decision making, and stressed dogs don’t tend to make very good decisions.
Dogs who are not stressed generalize better. I never taught Lyra that she had to ingore distractions when working articles; she simply understands the concept of work before play, so she puts her toy down and goes to work.
Dogs who are not stressed learn faster. Now that Lyra is six months old and beginning to show some true drive and maturity, I can teach her anything very quickly. She wants to work and loves to learn – my job is easy.
Dogs who are not stressed get off the toys and food more easily. If your training is stressful, then you must rely on toys and food to reduce that stress. If, on the other hand, you never created it in the first place, there’s nothing to reduce. Now you can focus on the joy that you have created in the work and in your interpersonal interactions.
Stress in the ring is a huge issue; ask anyone who is a trainer of competition dogs. Some stress cannot be avoided; dogs shows can be very scary and overwhelming to many dogs, regardless of your training methods. As a trainer you can avoid becoming part of the dog’s problem; that is where you may wish to focus your energies.
I do not consider distraction training to be a unique stage of training; it is part of the overall process. Distraction training starts from the day I bring a puppy home, whether I wish to work on distractions or not. Regardless, there are periods in training where I start adding harder distractions consciously - Lyra is just entering that phase, though she’s been preparing for it for months.
The fact is, distractions exist in the world. For a young dog with high environmental interest like Lyra, a completely empty room is not distraction free. She has discovered the window, which opens out onto things to look at. She has discovered the floor, which offers opportunities to sniff. She listens to dogs barking in the distance and cars pulling up in the driveway. In short, the world is filled with distractions that I often cannot control.
Some dogs are highly sensitive to these environmental distractions and other dogs appear oblivious. Dogs with high interest in whatever rewards you may be offering are the most likely to ignore these uncontrolled distractions, because they are barely aware of them. They are focused on the food, toys or other attractive alternatives that you may be offering. Being “unaware” makes the trainer’s life easier, because both parties can focus on skillbuilding. On the other hand, being “unaware” means the dog is not learning how to ignore distractions or to function in spite of them, and owners do not develop the skills of training through them. When the food and toy rewards are no longer obvious and visible to the dog, the distractions suddenly loom larger than life, and it can be frustrating to deal with them.
I don’t consider one kind of dog or learning curve “better” than the other, but it does illustrate the point that training should be individualized for the dog, and many perceived benefits like high food drive may well have costs associated with them when the food goes away.
Dogs with high environmental awareness or relatively low drive need patience and time, even in the most simple environments. They will still learn, albeit a little slower. On the other hand, they are developing valuable practice at ignoring miscellaneous “noise” in the environment, so later distraction training may well be easier.
Lyra has high environmental awareness and modest food drive. For the first four months, she flipped in and out of work. She still does, though it’s not very common anymore. While the general direction has been towards better attention and focus, her developmental curve has been slower than most of my other dogs.
Today, the benefit of this developmental curve was driven home to me.
Lyra has started to ignore or walk away from more intense distractions in the environment, and I have learned how to manage her at different levels of engagement. Lyra knows that the worst thing that will happen when she checks out is that I’ll end the training session and put her back in the house. She also knows that I won’t beg or plead for her to work, beyond a simple request or two that she return to me.
My energy (high), plus my approval (obvious), plus our training history (fun), plus our relationship (valuable), plus a toy is a very powerful combination The alternative is Lyra alone with Lyra’s favorite toy on the training field. Lyra is self training to understand that while toys in the training area are interesting, they are nothing compared to what she gets when she works with me.
If she wants my approval, energy and 100% attention, she needs to give these same things back to me. My interaction mirrors hers. If I like what she is doing, I’m 100% there with her. If I don’t like what she is doing, I withdraw those qualities. And if she’s in the middle (finds a toy and tries to get me to interact on her terms), I’m supportive and kind, but I’m not the package deal.
If Lyra were ever punished for picking up a random toy instead of working for it, she would learn to “get around” me, waiting for opportunities when she could grab the toy and I could not stop her. In the obedience ring, this often shows up as excellent attention and work on leash or in heel position (where the owner can grab the dog) and a distinct correlation between distance from owner and loss of attention and control. I do not want to trial with a dog that I cannot trust reliably off leash and at a distance.
This method will not work if your dog does not value training time. Value comes through time working together in a positive manner, combining toys, food and fun. This method also will not work if it is hard for you to “let go” and allow your dog to make choices. If that describes your situation, work on those issues first.
In this video, distractions include sheep which are newly visible from the training yard. There is quite a lot of residual food smell (not food) on the ground from earlier training sessions with student dogs. There are several toys on the ground. Her favorite is the “frenzy’, the toy with a sheepskin top and many leather pieces hanging down. Her second favorite toy is the Leather Rag – one long solid piece. There is also a ball. There is a dumbbell that I use for retrieving but I have never used that as a toy, so she sees the dumbbell retrieve as a means to “earn” a toy. There is a platform which is also a means to a toy.
As the session begins, note that I allow Lyra to find all of the options on the field – I want her to be aware of what options exist, so that she can make choices. Watch my reactions to Lyra’s enthusiasm for the toys she finds – I’m neutral if she finds them and stays away, and slightly positive if she brings them to me. Watch the change in my demeanor as she gives up on the toys and begins to work for me.
Note that she leaves heeling once to bring me a ball (38 sec.). I don’t feed her decision with energy. She soon figures it out and then works 100% for me – no residual looking back at the ball or resentment to being asked to work.
When I ask for a retrieve (1:55 sec), she doesn’t’ even look at the ball as she goes by.
She finds a smell on the cement (2:15) and does not bring the ball back. I ignore her (don’t feed it with energy) and take her ball.
She then brings me her dumbbell (2:40). I will always acknowledge that positively but I don’t reward it with a toy because I did not ask for it.
For the next minute or so she wanders and sniffs. Clearly she has discovered smells she did not know about earlier. At her age, I simply ignore it. With a well trained adult who normally chooses work, I would have ended the session after requesting that the dog return and being ignored. Lyra is too young for me to worry about it, so I wait her out.
When she returns (3:45sec) you can see that she’s not so engaged anymore. My energy also drops until I bring out the toy, at which point she comes alive again. I mirror her energy once more. I had the option of rewarding her choice to return with a lot of energy, but I did not do so on this occasion.
She works nicely for awhile. Then at 5:50 sec she lays down to keep her toy and chew on it. When she realizes I’m disengaging, she drops the toy and looks to me for direction.
I ask her to heel holding her toy (6:25 sec). She can carry the toy or drop it; her choice. She does both. Then she heads for the platform because she thought I would ask for that behavior. That is NOT leaving work; it is a misunderstanding, so I simply encourage her to come back and heel.
I then send her to retrieve her dumbbell while holding her toy (7:10). After she makes a good choice, I end her lesson. The ability to leave a toy behind in order to work is an excellent barometer of where she is at with distractions – she’s getting strong!
There is no fight in Lyra’s training. No begging, arguments, dominance, fear or intimidation. I win by refusing to give energy to behaviors that I don’t want to see. It’s important that she try out self satisfying, so she can choose to remove that option from her repertoire of behaviors. Setting this foundation now will pay huge dividends later when I am working her at much higher levels of drive and expectation – notably in protection work and as her drives mature. The habit will be set; work with me or through me but never around me.
This video is unedited start to finish, so that you can see my various reactions to her choices.
